Build Update #15

Moved into the apartment at Penn State Erie. I sprayed my last coat on Friday, and left Saturday morning. To transport the guitar for the 2 hour drive meant hanging the guitar, as it was in the booth, on the clothes hanger hook in the minivan. I kept an eye on it during the ride to make sure it didn't swing around too much. I kept it hung in the closet for 4 days until i thought it was cured enough to sit in the guitar stand. Humidity hasn't dropped below 60 since i got here, so it may take some extra time to cure.



The guitar in its stand. The tuners were popped in for shits and giggles. I cut the string slots shallow in the bone nut using homemade feeler gauge saws. I think that, if you prepare and use the saws properly, they can work just as well as expensive nut files. I used a dremel to cut the teeth in the gauges, alternating the angle of the cut. I essentially aimed to replicate the alternating angled teeth on a standard saw. Before cutting these teeth, however, I round the edge of the gauge using some sandpaper, so the cut in the nut will have a round bottom, instead of a square one. The slots will be cut starting with a thin gauge saw and then continuing upward in thickness until reaching the final gauge. The nut will be completed once the finish is cured.



The headstock turned out very purty. The 'orange peel' shown on the finish (in the reflection) will go away during final sanding and buffing.



The epoxy grain filler i used was a pain to remove and in some spots i was a little too zealous on sanding it back to the wood. Some grain, especially around the pickup cavities, has shown through the finish. Speaking of finish... I used one can of sanding sealer (5 coats), and 3 cans of lacquer (5 very thin coats, followed by 10 wet coats [only 8 on the neck]). Some of the grain should disappear during final sanding.

I set my date for final sanding/buffing on Sept. 17th. So my next update will most likely be then.

-Andrew

Build Update #14

A lot has been done, but for now, little can be shown for it.




Taking some advice from strangers on the internet, i used epoxy to fill the grain. This image gives a good representation of the purpose of filling wood grain. Epoxy was applied to the right via a razor blade and allowed to cure. The layer of epoxy was sanded completely away until i got back to the wood. It was shot with 2 coats of sanding sealer and a topcoat of lacquer. No furthur modification was made to the wood up to this picture. As you can see, a well defined cut-off point is shown signifying where i did and did not grain fill. To achieve a 'smooth as glass' finish, the grain must be filled. As a side note, this process is needed only for porous woods like mahogany, walnut, and ash.




I began by applying Loctite 60 minute extra time epoxy to the back and let it cure. Unfortunately, after 3 days, it was still as tacky as when i applied it. So my advice to others would be to never use the Loctite 60 minute stuff unless you have a week or two to burn waiting for it to cure until sandable. I triple checked the two part mix and was certain i didn't just mix it wrong. Also, it's less viscous than the 5 minute version, so it soaks pretty far into the wood. I spent a whole day removed the tacky goop that I didn't even hesitate to smear all over the back of my guitar. I switched back to the 5 minute Loctite and things went much more smoothly, with the surface ready to sand in 5 or so hours. I proceeded to apply the epoxy to the remainder of the guitar in small batches using a Dollar General gift card.



I should mention i gave the wood a good sanding beforehand with 100, 150, 220, and 400 grit sandpapers. Followed by a judicious wiping with naphtha. This same process was repeated after sanding the epoxy back down with a random orbital sander.



I built a spray booth in my basement using a couple drop clothes (1 mil 10x20) from Home Depot. A couple sticks of poplar were wedged onto the ceiling to provide a frame. The resulting booth measures about 5'x7'. A 2'x2' fan exhausts the fumes via a make-shift duct out through an ajar garage door.



A copper wire was tied to the garage door tracks and threaded through the booth, providing a good spot to hang the guitar from. Shown is the guitar after 2 coats of sanding sealer.



Again.



An old tshirt was stuffed into the f-holes to stop any spray from getting into the guitar. I also drilled the electronics holes in, literally, 4 minutes. 'Measure twice, cut once' as everyone I know has told me. This time, i measured once, and cut once. I'm sure there shouldn't be any repercussions...



The amateur luthier standing next to his baby. Remember kids, safety first. Latex gloves, respirator, and goggles (they do nothing)**. The booth is also equipped with an $8 digital thermometer/humidostatometergrapher. Frequent checks throughout the day show good signs, with the temperature hovering between 75 and 83 degrees, with the humidity gracefully fluttering between 42 and 50 percent. Excellent, in my opinion, for spraying.


**The goggles, they do something. This is only a 15 year old reference to a popular television series, so please, wear goggles.



Tonight i will apply one more coat of sanding sealer and tomorrow begin with the topcoat applications. One thing i've learned with this whole build, is that if you plan on shaping a bone nut for the headstock, be aware of the location of any dogs within 100 feet or so. I took the nut to the belt sander (ouch) and walked inside, covered in bone dust, only to be chased and licked by our pet beagle. Absolutely terrifying.

Build Update #13

13 days left to work.



Here i've set the inlay into the recess using epoxy with a drop of black dye (Transtint).



I ran a straightedge along the fretboard binding down to where the tailpiece will be and marked a few lines (seen in red) for placing the tailpiece. I used a brad point bit from a 29 piece kit from harbor freight (i recommend getting these) to drill the holes for the bushings. The problem with drilling these is getting the the bit to drill perpendicular to the body, which is difficult due to the funky shape of the back of the guitar. I managed to drill the first hole in the drill press (using a level and some shims to level the guitar), but since there was a tiny tiny kink in the placement of the fretboard, the tailpiece centerline was off center by ~1/16". This small change in distance prohibited my drill press from reaching the second hole (it was so so so close) because the press only has a ~5" reach. So the second hole had to be drilled by hand, which was nerve racking and tedious. The hand drilled hole is less accurate and the bushing slips in and out with ease (not a good thing). This will be fixed with a few drops of glue once I finish the guitar.

I got a set of grover tuners off of ebay for $40. I used the headstock routing template to drill precise holes using a 3/8" brad point bit. The tuners won't fit in the wood completely, which is good.




I adhered the template to the headstock and, a mano, transferred the holes onto the headstock. A 1/8"-1/2" reamer from, again, harbor freight widened the back of the holes to fit the tuners in tight and level. Any imperfections in the drilling angle was fixed with the reamer.



All the tuners were fit and had their nuts tightened.. A temporary rosewood nut was manufactured from a rubbing i took from my Alvarez acoustic. I've tried, throughout this build, to match some essential measurements on this guitar, with my acoustic that i've been playing for 7 or so years. This includes the string spacing (shown) and the neck profile.




The nut was terribly made; the A, G, and B strings buzzed a lot, but it served its purpose. I don't have another electric guitar to compare the sound to, but i would assume it sounded great.




The middle strings were removed, leaving high E and low E. The bridge was perched upon a couple washers to simulate its final height. The strings held it down. At this point, i adjusted the high and low E intonation saddles to the middle and tilted the bridge until both E strings were intonated correctly (12th harmonic = 12th fret). This process was done by ear and with a tuner. Once i found the right placement for the bridge, i used a spare drill bit to transfer the placement to the body. I checked with calipers to make sure the distance between the marks were in accordance with the actual bridge.



Fortunately for the bridge posts, they were drilled nicely with the drill press. Both fit very snug. The strings were aligned down the entire fretboard, and the action was exactly were i'm used to with the bridge set all the way down.



Lookin sharp.



After touching up some bubbles in the inlay epoxy, i dyed the headstock black (Transtint). The flash brightened the grain a little i nthe picture, but it's completely black.


For the remainder of the weekend, i will give the guitar it's final shaping/sanding. The tops will be sanded perfectly round. I will make sure i wear gloves for this process, as i don't want any grease left on the wood for finishing. A makeshift spray booth complete with fan, dehumidifier, air filter will be built for spraying.

The electronics holes and whatnot will be drilled after the epoxy grain filler is applied.

-Drew

Build Update #12

School starts August 21st so i have to pick up the pace here and finish this guitar soon.




The frets are naked and need dressed. I cut a 35 degree slot in a scrap radius block and a file was held in place with a screw. This was used to bevel the sides of the frets.



I used a 12" long flat piece of metal with 400 grit sandpaper glued on it to level all the frets. High frets get more of a plateau than the lower frets. I sanded until all the frets were touched by the sandpaper.



The third to last fret has been covered in black sharpie. The second to last fret has been crowned. The fret was shaped from the sides until there is only a thin strip of black down the center (shown). The shaping was done with a small piece of 400 grit sandpaper.



After a quick wipe with 1500 grit sandpaper, the frets got buffed with the dremel.




The tape is removed and the resulting shine could be seen from space. Each fret got about 10 minutes of attention each (yes, it took almost 4 hours).




Hardware.




I received a 1# tub of hide glue from LMI. Here is my setup for heating the glue. The hide glue was soaked in water overnight, and was then placed into the double boiler and let hover at 140 degrees Phairenhight (60 Celsius) until it reached the viscosity needed. Shown is the double boiler, with the brush being boiled.





Plenty of glue was applied, and a single clamp was used to hold the neck in place until the glue dries overnight.




The guitar can now freely sit in the stand. I glued a piece of 1/16" maple veneer onto the headstock and trimmed it flush to the mahogany.




I used the Gibson logo along with other similar logos to create my own logo in MS paint. I think it turned out well.

I printed out the logo at different widths to see which one worked best. I chose the 1.6" wide logo, adhered it to the MOP blank, and proceeded to cut it out with a jewelers saw i got from LMI.




Here is the cut out logo on a scrap piece of maple with black dye added.




The logo was tacked down with super glue to the headstock.




A quick spray with black paint will transfer the logo's shape onto the maple.




I whipped up this router base for the dremel using some lexan, plywood, and some bolts. The MOP logo broke when i tried to remove it from the cut. Nothing some super glue can't fix.



Some spots went a little wild, but it all gets filled in with black glue anyway.




Here is was i've settled on for a finish. First fill the grain with 2 part epoxy (Loctite Extra time, with a drop of black dye for the mahogany filler. This will be done probably twice until the grain is completely filled. After this, the wood gets a thorough sanding back down to the grain. A few coats of sanding sealer will level off any imperfections that still may exist, leaving a flat surface for the topcoat. A quick sanding and the topcoats go on. I will use Behlen's Gloss Topcoat Lacquer and Sanding Sealer from Rockler. The picture above only shows 1 layer of epoxy filler w/o sanding, but it gives me a good representation of what the final grain should look like. The topcoat lacquer will 'cure' for about a month, when i will polish and buff it by hand. The buffing and polishing will occur when i'm up at school (hopefully).


For now, i will glue in the inlay, sand it flush, and dye the headstock veneer. Once my grover tuners arrive, i can drill the holes and install them. The bone nut needs shaped, and the bridge/tailpiece need installed. After this, it's all the finish and detail work.

-Andrew